We, as homebrewers, understand our art and the meaning of it. Simply, we get the "why" behind it. Sometimes we may have friends, relative, or coworkers who will ask you why or the reasoning to your homebrewing. To some people, we can fully describe the passion, however to others we have to... dumb it down a bit. I have found with the homebrewers that I have spoken with, we all have a specific metaphor we like to use to characterize what we do.
What is that metaphor and why do you use it?
I specifically compare brewing beer, and beer in general, to sauce. There are a ton of commercial varieties out there such as the garbage sauces, prego and ragu (bmc), that the american pallet has become accustomed to. There are also widely distrubuted commercial varieties that are actually fairly decent. It's also come to the point where there are some smaller local places that are marketing their sauce and it is absolutely wonderful, albeit expensive.
Then I get into the homemade sauce. There are a number of ways you can make it like buying canned tomatoes, which there are a variety of both good and bad, dried spices, and other ingredients that are prepackaged that will work well. You can mix and match and experiment and make your own personal sauce that works for you.
And then we get to the point where you are using fresh tomatoes all the way, using your own homegrown fresh spices, and adding the best meat or other vegetables that you can find. You still experiment around but you work on perfecting your recipes and take full delight in a days work on your signature sauce.
btw, i grew up in a very italian family and i feel that this metaphor is one of the best ways that I can describe what it means to the average joe who doesn't share the passion, but you want them to understand what it means to YOU.
What is that metaphor and why do you use it?
I specifically compare brewing beer, and beer in general, to sauce. There are a ton of commercial varieties out there such as the garbage sauces, prego and ragu (bmc), that the american pallet has become accustomed to. There are also widely distrubuted commercial varieties that are actually fairly decent. It's also come to the point where there are some smaller local places that are marketing their sauce and it is absolutely wonderful, albeit expensive.
Then I get into the homemade sauce. There are a number of ways you can make it like buying canned tomatoes, which there are a variety of both good and bad, dried spices, and other ingredients that are prepackaged that will work well. You can mix and match and experiment and make your own personal sauce that works for you.
And then we get to the point where you are using fresh tomatoes all the way, using your own homegrown fresh spices, and adding the best meat or other vegetables that you can find. You still experiment around but you work on perfecting your recipes and take full delight in a days work on your signature sauce.
btw, i grew up in a very italian family and i feel that this metaphor is one of the best ways that I can describe what it means to the average joe who doesn't share the passion, but you want them to understand what it means to YOU.